multisession disc copying - can't import last track

[sassonsb]

I unsuccessfully searched for suggestions on how to import the 15th Chartbuster track. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Also, I have Essentials Vols 3 and 4. Unlike 1 and 2, these are not currently in the Hoster 'library' to automatically populate the fields with the song name and band/singer. Is there anyway to avoid manually entering this information?
Stephen

[George]

Stephen,

I haven't checked lately, but the last time I searched "multisession" there were almost 40 different threads containing something about it, including some suggested "workarounds".

If a track is not in the Hoster database it will have to be entered manually.

Take care,

George

[sassonsb]

Thanks George. I did search and found the suggeston to eject the CDG as soon as it stops reading the 15th song. It will appear to abort however the song should still be there (perhaps with up to 2 minutes of silence added on to the end). I tried this but the song wasn't listed when I went to create a play list. Perhaps I'm missing a step in this 'workaround'. If you or anyone else has any further suggestions, I'd be grateful.

I'm in the process of manually entering in the information for Chartbuster Essentials Vol 4.

[sassonsb]

Thank you for your reply. For some reason, the 15th file is not copying to my hard drive. When I import, I select all of the files on the CDG except for the 16th which usually shows as about a 15 second file. I watch carefully as it is reading the 15th file. when the progress bar stops moving, I hit the eject but on my Plexter CD player/burner. I get an error message about not being able to read certain segments on the CDG, I hit ok and then the Hoster program shows the 15th file as aborted. When I then go to create a playlist, only files 1 - 14 are there. If I use windows explorer to look at the hard drive where I am saving all of the CDG files, the 15th file is not there. Can you think of what I might be doing incorrectly? I really appreciate your help. Stephen

[George]

Try selecting all the tracks and as soon as it enters the 16th, eject the disc.

George

[sassonsb]

George, If if I select the 16th track to import as well, when it is about 80% into reading the 15th track (according to the progress bar) it just stops. It appears that it will remain in this state indefinately. The CD-R indicator light is illuminating suggesting that it is accessing the disk but there's no sign of life other than that. If I eject at this point I get a Hoster error message indicating that it was unable to read certain audio sectors. Any other suggestions out there? Stephen

[S. Parks]

if you have micro studio, simply import the 15 tracks into microstudio(minus the multisession track), copy to a disc or hard drive, then use that source to import into Hoster. Works like a charm.

[bestive]

I just received a new custom CD+G from soundchoice. In the not so far past, I have had no trouble copying multisession disks from soundchoice. When I attempt to import selected tracks individualy or by selecting all of them, I am unable to so, and get a RED ERROR in the status column. This is a new problem that I have not experienced. Please advise!!!

[sassonsb]

Steve Parks or anyone else,

I just purchased Mirco Studio for the primary purpose of importing track 15. I selected all of the tracks (except the bogus 16th track) and imported them. When it got to track 15, it stopped copying (according to the progress bar) at the same point that I was running into the same problem when importing with Hoster. What am I doing wrong? Thanks. Stephen

[CochrellGary]

Steve:

As soon as the progress bar stops it's progress, hit the eject button on your CD drive. Look at the directory where the tracks are being saved. You should find track 15 there.

Gary

[sassonsb]

Thanks Gary. I did this and sure enough, track 15 was on the hard drive. I then tried to import it into Hoster but Hoster would only let me look to my CD drive for importing files. I then burned the file to a CD and then tried to import it into Hoster. I got a Hoster error message indicating that it was unable to read audio sectors 0-25. ???

[CochrellGary]

Stephen,

Don't know what might have happened. My only suggestion at this point is that maybe you hit the eject button too quickly. When I run into a multisession CD I use Microstudio to copy tracks 1-14 to the hard drive and then do the eject trick for track 15. Then, I burn all 15 tracks to a CD and then import my newly burned CD into Hoster.

Gary

[sassonsb]

Gary,

I waited until the bar displaying the progress of reading the CDG disk stopped moving to the right. I waited about 5 seconds (just to make sure that it was stopped) and then hit the eject button. Unlike when I tried this with Hoster, I did see the file on my hard drive but, as I said above. I couldn't imort it with Hoster.

It sounds like you had a number of 15th track songs from various CDGs and that you imported them one at a time with Microstudio and then burned a bunch to one new CD before importing into Hoster. When you did this, I assume that you didn't import the 15th track into the ID where the other 14 tracks from that CDG were stored but rather created a new disk ID for these.

Stephen

[Pooldoo]

Use Microstudio and import the tracks. (skip track 16). When it hangs up on track 15, cancel process. (the file is on your harddrive, just deleted). Use an undelete program to bring back the file. (you can get "Restoration" for free off of the net). It will add a minute or two to the end of the track, but you can then make a new back-up disc (put the tracks in order). You can now use the back-up disc to load the song onto Hoster.

[fred valego]

Wally,

I tried to use your technique, namely CDRWIN and Microstudio to compile a single session cdg from a Chartbuster CDG that had MULTISESSION protection. I was trying to get the 15th song and it had that 16th data track on the cdg to block one from extracting that song.

I followed your technique EXACTLY as you described and everything in your procedure worked just as you described. The only problem is that the final cd that I recorded DID NOT have a GRAPHIC file so there was only AUDIO and no VIDEO!! Since I followed your technique precisely as you described, I am assuming that it DOES NOT WORK with a CHARTBUSTER CDG. The name of the 15th song was HONESTY (WRITE ME A LIST). If you are able to extract that song with your technique, please let me know the secret. Thanks.

Regards,

Fred

[jsmith]

Fred, i also used this method recently to import over 100 SC cdg's It worked great except for about 4 that turned out like yours. I went back and redid them and had no problems. Odds are that you forgot to check a "CDG" box somewhere in the process. I suggest you try it again and carefully make sure all the boxes are checked correctly. John

[kedmison]

Hey Folks,

Microstudio works fine for doing multisession.

Check all 15 songs. When it gets to recording the 15th song it will appear to stall, hang up; whatever term you wish to use. Give the 15th song about 30 extra seconds and while it's copying, simply push the eject button on your CD drawer. An error message will pop up; your drawer opens up and it at first appears your song was deleted. It's not. If you'll look, it's right there with the rest of them.

Kelly:c

[fred valego]

I want to thank you both for responding so quickly. I will try your recommendations in mid-april 2004 as I am away from my computer now. I will try the ejection technique first since this is easiest method.

Regards,

Fred

[Wallymeister]

Fred,

It's great to hear that my suggestion did work for you even though you still have some concerns.

I do not have that CB disc but I'm going to have to agree with john smith that maybe just maybe you might have forgot to select from the dropdown box [Audio w/ cd+g]. Omitting this step would definitely give you only audio and no graphics. This could also be some other copy protection integrated with multi-session. If Microstudio will work for you that is the best way to go but if it don't then you might try this: When extracting that last song do everything the same as I stated earlier except on the end LBA # subtract 5 or 10 and see if it acts differently. I had a disc or two that seemed to have some other copy protection built in this last song that I had to do that with and it worked.

In response to Kelly's post, I have reason to believe that the way Microstudio reacts to multi-session discs is different from one computer to another based on cdr drive being used and and firmware for that drive being used. I do know that this is true concerning Media-Cloq discs. Some can handle it and some can't.

Wally

[jsmith]

Wally, have you had any luck with the Media-Cloque discs? I've tried it several different ways with no luck. John

[Wallymeister]

John,
I have done 2 or 3 Media-Cloq discs basically the same method as above but you have to have a cdr drive that will read this protection scheme without getting confused. Some drives will & some won't. However, just last night I came across another M-Cloq disc while importing into Hoster and tried the same method I did before and it didn't work. There are a couple of M-Cloq variations out there. I'm sure that's why it won't work now. I may have to just get SC to replace this disc before it's too late. Even if it the method I used was successful, it's still alot of work.

Wally

[jsmith]

Wally,
What cdr drive have you used succesfully? I have 20 of these discs. SC wants 6 dollars each to replace them and I think that is a little much considering that I have already payed for them. John

[Wallymeister]

John,
I have a Sony 140E cdr drive. It's an older drive. Got it off E-Bay.

So SC wants $6 each.....WOW! That's crazy. Like I said, I'm still going to play around with this latest disc I have that I'm having trouble with. I only have one that I know of left. Check that. I have two. I still don't want to pay SC $12 if I can avoid it. I'll be in touch.

Wally

[jsmith]

Wally,
shoot me a PM e-mail

Thanx, John

[nreel]

Why do you people insist on doing all these "calculations/multiple steps" to get the last CDG Track of a Multisession disc?

There is Free software out there that Rips either all the Tracks, if you so choose, or just the infamous CDG Track that is laid next to the Data Track of a Multisession Disc.

Yes, I'm talking FREEWARE...used to be Shareware.

This Freeware Rips to .BIN, so, if you want to use the Software, that you have mentioned previously, to Custom Assemble the Tracks to a CD...you can. (This is Ripping Software ONLY...it WILL NOT Custom Assemble.)

Personally, I RENAME the extension FROM .BIN to .CDG and use MICROSTUDIO to Custom Assemble because you DO NOT have to go through several Menus, as in the aforementioned software, to Custom Assemble.

Anyone wanting to know what Freeware I am referring to, PM me and I will tell you.

You should NOT be using the MTU OPEN Forum to POST the Names of Competing Software.

Norm/Beta Tester

[songpony]

If the file shows up on your hard drive even though Hoster says the import was aborted, but it just doesn't show up in your play list, you should try recreating the songbook. It will look for all .KMA files on your hard drive (in whatever directories you specify) and create the book based on those - if it finds that file, it should add it to the songlist.